The Guardian reports that witnesses say Erdogan’s security team was responsible for attacking the protesters.

“All of the sudden they just ran towards us,” one Yazidi Kurd peaceful protester told ABC. “Someone was beating me in the head nonstop, and I thought, ‘Okay, I’m on the ground already, what is the purpose to beat me?’”

“We are protesting [Erdogan’s] policies in Turkey, in Syria and in Iraq,” one of the couple dozen protesters told CNN. “They think they can engage in the same sort of suppression of protest and free speech that they engage in in Turkey.”

The behavior of Erdogan’s goons sent shockwaves through the media, as Americans got a small sample of what the Turkish regime does with impunity back home to individuals who oppose the Islamist autocrat.

Earlier on Tuesday, President Donald Trump met with Erdogan at the White House. The two leaders remained cordial, both praising each other’s leadership. President Trump noticeably did not mention Turkey’s widespread internal crackdown on human rights, which has led to the arrest of tens of thousands of journalists, academics, educators, and government and military officials.